The track “Silver Olympus” was the opener of 2007’s Songs for Future Gods, and is a barnburner besides, and so certainly makes a welcome first impression coming from Mos Generator‘s new live LP, Live at Roadburn Festival 2008, which captures their first European performance at the venerable Tilburg, the Netherlands-based fest of the same name. Due out Nov. 24 through Savant Guarde Records, the off-the-board recording brims with energy in “Silver Olympus.” I don’t know which room of the old 013 they played — the Green Room or the Batcave (now Stage01 and gone, respectively) — but their excitement at being there is palpable in the track and no doubt the memory comes with some nostalgia. It’s not the band’s first live release by any means, but obviously a special moment.

My first Roadburn was in 2009, but I was definitely aware of it before that too. This would’ve been a set to see. Failing that, at least the live record can give some impression of what it might’ve been like, while doubling as a convenient herald for Mos Generator‘s next studio LP, which they’ll be recording concurrent to this release. A sneaky double-dose of good news, there.

The PR wire (actually it was an Instagram tag; you know I’ve been doing this long enough to remember being mailed press releases?) brought the following:

MOS GENERATOR Live Recording Captures Band’s First Ever European Appearance

With the band entering the studio this November to record their 10th full-length, travel back in time to a monumental moment in their history…

Arriving as a double LP, Live at Roadburn Festival 2008, documents the Port Orchard heavy rock veterans’ electrifying appearance at in Tilburg, Netherlands on 19th April 2008 – their very first European performance.

Mos Generator were formed in 2000 from the ashes of a decade-long collaboration between its founding members, and in the quarter of a century since have become a cornerstone of the heavy underground. With nine studio albums, multiple live and retrospective releases, and tours alongside Saint Vitus, Fu Manchu, Spirit Caravan, and Elder, the band has earned a reputation for their authenticity and relentless energy.

Fronted by guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Tony Reed, the band were riding high on the recent release of Songs for Future Gods (2007) at the time of this recording, while embarking on their first European tour.

“This was the first show!” smiles Reed. “By the time we got on stage at Roadburn we were worn out from jet lag and playing unfamiliar gear. All in all, it’s a pretty good set with highs and lows. It’s taken me seventeen years to come to grips with the idea that people don’t mind hearing mistakes – if that’s the case, you won’t be disappointed.”

Despite its rawness, the set captures Mos Generator in their prime: equal parts heavy, soulful, and unapologetically human. Highlights include the first-ever live performance of ‘Step Up’, fan favourite ‘Silver Olympus’ (available to stream now here), and the kind of stage banter and unpredictability that made the night unforgettable, including bassist Scooter Haslip being called back from the showers by a roaring crowd to continue the set.

Their Roadburn appearance marked the beginning of their international touring legacy, opening doors to major European festivals and new audiences worldwide where critics have long recognized Mos Generator’s unique ability to balance grit and soul.

Live at Roadburn Festival 2008 will be the third official release on Savant Guarde Records, a rising independent label dedicated to preserving the legacy of heavy underground music. Reed, who in recent years has also made his mark as guitarist and producer with Pentagram, has found a natural partnership with label head Daniel Rozell in bringing this long-awaited recording to light.

Releasing on 24th October 2025 as a limited edition 2xLP set (one clear, one black, 250 copies) and CD edition (300 copies), Live at Roadburn Festival 2008 offers a raw yet powerful snapshot of Mos Generator at a pivotal moment in their career. Pre-orders will launch in the coming weeks via savantguarderecordsusa.bandcamp.com.

Mos Generator (2008 Lineup):
Tony Reed – Guitar / Vocals / Keyboards
Scooter Haslip – Bass / Backing Vocals
Shawn Johnson – Drums

https://heavyheadsuperstore.storenvy.com/
http://www.mosgenerator.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/mos_generator
http://www.facebook.com/MosGenerator

https://savantguarderecordsusa.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/savantguarderecords/
https://www.facebook.com/p/Savant-Guarde-Records-61565482884722/

Mos Generator, “Silver Olympus” from Live at Roadburn Festival 2008 (2025)

Some classics, some punk, some darker, gothy-type stuff, and if you ever doubted that Tony Reed — Mos Generator and related projects, also now of Pentagram — was a songwriter, the fact that he opens a 21-song covers collection with The Cars should reaffirm. You don’t even approach Ric Ocasek unless you respect the ‘song’ as an artform. Could say the same of Bowie or Discharge, I guess. His take on “Night Fever” rules either way.

In all seriousness, if you’ve followed Reed through either the shifts in approach of Mos Generator or in bands like Stone Axe, Twelve-Thirty Dreamtime, and so on, or of course his own solo work, a lot of those influences are accounted for here, plus “Laguna Sunrise” entirely on a Mellotron, plus it’s a free download, so mark it a total no-brainer, nothing-to-lose, unmitigated win.

Feel free to dive in accordingly:

TONY REED – Some Covers 2017 – 2024

This is a collection of some of the covers I recorded between 2017 and 2024. Some of these are done very close to the original and some are either acoustic versions or altered to sit in a different style of music than the original. I do these covers for a few reasons.

1. I was asked to do something for a cover or tribute album.

2. I am challenging myself to learn playing and recording techniques that better my abilities as a record producer and musician.

3. I can’t get a song out of my head so I record it to make it go away.

These are just the tip of the iceberg of the covers I’ve done by myself over the last 35 years. In 2018 a LP/CD of somewhat obscure seventies underground hard rock covers called “Lost Chronicles of Heavy Rock” came out on Listenable Records. Other than that, most of the covers I have done have never been released. Many are deemed “not for public listening” as far as I’m concerned and will never be let out of the boxes they reside in. All of them have been a learning experience though.

Tracklisting:
1. BYE BYE LOVE – The Cars 04:15
2. AMATEUR HOUR – Sparks 03:13
3. SAT IN YOUR LAP – Kate Bush 03:31
4. BURNIN’ FOR YOU – Blue Oyster Cult 04:35
5. BOOGIE NIGHTS – Heatwave 03:34
6. SWEET THING (pt. 1) – David Bowie 03:19
7. REALLY WANTED YOU – Emitt Rhodes 02:47
8. BETWEEN THE WHEELS – Rush 05:45
9. DON’T BELIEVE A WORD (acoustic) – Thin Lizzy 02:23
10. SURE KNOW SOMETHING – Kiss 03:53
11. WOMAN OF MINE – Lynyrd Skynyrd 04:48
12. BURNING FROM THE INSIDE – Bauhaus 04:56
13. IT’S NO T.V. SKETCH – Discharge 01:32
14. GOODBYE BLUE SKY – Pink Floyd 02:31
15. MOONAGE DAYDREAM – David Bowie 04:59
16. DOGS – Christian Death 02:50
17. TIGHTROPE (acoustic) – Leon Russell 02:38
18. LONELY TOWN, LONELY STREET – Bill Withers 03:27
19. NIGHT FEVER – Bee Gees 04:42
20. BOYS DON’T CRY – The Cure 02:40
21. LAGUNA SUNRISE (Concerto for Mellotron in Dminor) – Black Sabbath 02:56

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Tony Reed, Some Covers 2017-2014 (2025)

Today — I think maybe right now — Mos Generator release Forging Behind 2002-2012, a compilation LP of material taken from the decade listed. That covers the era from their 2002 self-titled debut (reissue review here) through 2005’s Nasoni-issued The Late Great Planet Earth, 2007’s Songs for Future Gods (which was on Roadburn Records and Small Stone), and their 2012 Ripple Music post-hiatus resurgence, Nomads (review here). Also included is the harmony-laced “Dyin’ Blues” from the 2007 10″ EP Tales From the Vault, which saw new life in 2021 as The Lantern (review here) on Argonauta Records. Long and winding road, as the fella said.

Its tracks assembled and newly mastered by founding guitarist/vocalist, producer and bandleader Tony Reed, the stated intention of Forging Behind 2002-2012 is to simplify Mos Generator‘s back catalog a bit for people just getting to know their work. In 2020, the Strange Powers comp LP did likewise for 2014’s Electric Mountain Majesty (review here), 2016’s Abyssinia (review here) and 2018’s Shadowlands (review here) — all three of which first came out on Listenable Records — which took them into the Mk. II lineup of Reed, bassist Sean Booth and drummer Jono Garrett. On Forging Behind, it’s all the original trio: Reed, bassist Scooter Haslip and drummer Shawn Johnson.

OKAY… That’s a lot of info. A lot of text in bold. A lot of ‘review here’ links. I get it. Densely packed. But something else you need to know going into Forging Behind is that the original trio lineup — the band that first made these songs; Mk. I — is still active. In the promo info below, Reed says all these songs are in rotation for the current live set. The Mk. II lineup? Also still active. That’s right, kids. Mos Generator have split the timeline. My understanding is both incarnations of Mos Generator are writing for new studio albums, which is a dizzying thought even in the context of Reed‘s generally furious work ethic. Their most recent studio LP, Time//Wounds (review here), came out in Dec. 2022.

So what Forging Behind 2002-2012 is also doing is giving background to whatever it might ultimately be that surfaces from the Reed, Haslip, Johnson three-piece, and providing a gateway for those who discovered the band after they came back in the 2010s to dig into the output from their original run. How it differs from 2008’s 2LP/CD comp Destroy! The Mos Generator 2001-2008 is of course the years it covers — Nomads didn’t exist yet and it’s become a landmark for them — the new master, and the idea of being curated around the songs they play now as a single-LP/DL release. 300 vinyls.

And if you do get the download version, one last thing to note is that it’s Reed‘s own vinyl rip, not a straight digital transfer. Probably took a little longer to get together, but a cool idea that not everybody would think of doing.

They remain a treasure of the American heavy rock underground:

Mos Generator Forging Behind 2002 – 2012

Forging Behind is a compilation of songs released between 2002 and 2012 and is kind of a “young person’s guide” to the early years of the band. Forging Behind can also be considered a companion album to Strange Powers released in 2020. Strange Powers was a compilation of songs from the three albums released on Listenable Records between 2014 and 2018 and together, these two albums make a comprehensive overview of highlights from the band’s career. All of the songs on Forging Behind are still in rotation in the current live set so this makes it easy for fans to choose an album to buy if they liked the set but aren’t familiar with the band.

Label: Music Abuse Records
Units pressed: 300
Vinyl colors: Black (no variants)

All sonic manipulations by Reed at ‘Vault’, Temple Sound, & HeavyHead Recording Co. between 2001 and 2012. Mastered by Reed at HeavyHead January 2024. Front cover art by Lex Waterreus. Artwork layout by #3. All songs written by Reed. Arranged by Mos Generator.

Side A
1. SILVER OLYMPUS (3:58)
(from the album Songs for Future Gods released September 2007)
2. DYIN’ BLUES (4:53)
(from the album Tales from the Vault released May 2007)
3. LONELY ONE KENOBI (single version) (4:28)
(from the album Nomads released October 2012)
4. ON THE EVE (promo edit) (5:44)
(from the album The Late Great Planet Earth released October 2005)

Side B
1. LUMBO ROCK (3:57)
(from the album Mos Generator released April 2002)
2. STEP UP (4:51)
(from the album Nomads released October 2012)
3. NANDV (3:37)
(from the album Songs for Future Gods released September 2007)
4. THIS IS THE GIFT OF NATURE (7:25)
(from the album Nomads released October 2012)

Mos Generator on Forging Behind:
TONY REED – guitar / vocals / keys
SHAWN JOHNSON – drums
SCOOTER HASLIP – bass

http://www.facebook.com/MosGenerator
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http://www.mosgenerator.bandcamp.com
https://heavyheadsuperstore.storenvy.com/

Mos Generator, Forging Behind 2002-2012 promo video

Mos Generator, Forging Behind 2002-2012 (2024)

Port Orchard, Washington, heavy rockers Kitsa release their debut album, Dead by Dawn, this weekend in collaboration with Music Abuse Records and at a release show joined by Mos Generator and Chameleons. The event page is linked below, should you be in the area, and the eight-track release, which will be on CD and vinyl in addition to the download, is a cause worth supporting, with a direct take on ’90s-style grunge and alt rock put through a filter of modern and heavier tonality. In its melodies, its flashes of Southern-via-Pacific-Northwest semi-twang, with the title-track representing well what the band calls a Nazareth influence (fair enough, not arguing) and feels like the path there came via Jar of Flies era Alice in Chains or how Jerry Cantrell always leaned a little country.

On Dead by Dawn, it’s part of the pastiche, not the whole sound, and if you’re listening to opener “Seeds of Famine,” you might wonder where the hell I’m getting this from. But elements there of crunch in the guitar of Chris Pound (Deepwater) and the groove built around his chugging riff by bassist Jeremy Deede (Teepee Creeper) and drummer Randy Fort (Abused) give vocalist Skot Davis a righteous backdrop for the hookcraft in “Seeds of Famine,” which even before the sun turns sepia on subsequent the title-track gives hints of open spaces in the shift into its chorus. The character of that emerges across the album works across two sides — four cuts per — and saves the outright heaviest moments for cuts deeper into the procession like “Hate” and the penultimate “Journeyman,” which roll out thick and lumbering ahead of the faster, not-a-Misfits-cover finale “She.”

And in “She,” as well as its side-A-capper counterpart “Wasteland,” Kitsa proffer melodies reminiscent of C.O.C.‘s Blind while setting forth on their own take, particularly in the layered guitar work of “She” and the churning movement of a midsection that straightens out to make the record’s last shove before the guitar solo brings the end. The ultra-catchy “Downhill” — which reminds listeners where the shit goes and which is one of those songs Kitsa just might have to play at every show for as long as they’re a band — blends brood and a midtempo groove-rock nod en route back to its next chorus. These familiar aspects are hints more than direct sonic references — at least so far as I can tell — and bolstered though the vocals of Davis, whose low-in-mouth burl on “Dead by Dawn” touches on Chris Cornell in “Dead by Dawn,” taking a route to get there that will be recognizable to fans of Sasquatch, while subverting whoa-momma-hey-yeah-baby frontman caricature in his balance of dudeliness and range.

That same flexibility also adds to the impact on side B, as they pick up from the lighter strum of “Koi” into that brief instrumental’s bluesier stomp before “Hate” announces its arrival with immediate largesse in its riff. The heft subsides in the verse but is never far off, and “Journeyman” — which along with “Downhill” and “Wasteland” was one of three initial live demos re-recorded for the LP — awaits with reinforcement with a fervency of snap to its drums and a tension in its early going that makes most of the second half of the song feel like a payoff. It ends with Davis declaring himself the titular character and gives over to “She,” which is the longest inclusion at 5:31 and in summarizing much of what Kitsa have put forth as their sound on their first proper release, it leaves off with a sustained hum of distortion after one last showcase of dynamic pace and knows-where-it’s-coming-from songwriting.

If you read the first sentence above, there were two hints dropped even before Mos Generator were directly mentioned as regards an association with that band’s founding guitarist/vocalist, Tony Reed (also Big Scenic Nowhere and sundry concurrent projects), in “Port Orchard” and the association with Music Abuse Records. Reed produced Dead by Dawn, and the pro-shop sounds captured are balanced in the mix so that a detail like the headstock strum early in “Hate” can shine through even some of the otherwise most consuming moments. Suited to the ’90s vibe, the recording brings atmosphere and impact alike, and is only one more factor in helping distinguish Kitsa on their debut.

You can stream Dead by Dawn in its entirety on the player below, followed by more info from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

KITSA is a rousing heavy rock act hailing from the salted aura of Port Orchard, Washington. Launched in 2022, the band’s music is deeply rooted in weighty riffs, spanning various genres over several decades, with a deep nod to Pacific Northwest grunge.

With Elder, The Sword, Down, Alice In Chains, and Nazareth cited as some of their influences, the foursome of KITSA comprises members from eclectic bands, including Devilbilt, YEDD, Teepee Creeper, Pivot Point, Earthwreck, and Abused. In April 2023, KITSA released three incendiary live demo tracks recorded by Jeremy Deede and Tony Reed at Devils Child Records.

Later in 2023, the band set out to record their full-length debut, ‘Dead by Dawn.’ A melting pot of musical forces, the record features an assortment of sweet, sweeping vocal harmonies on the title track “Dead by Dawn,” the live fan favorite “Journeyman,” and a classic rock banger “Seeds of Famine.” Dead by Dawn is transcended by hard-hitting muscled tracks like “She” and “Hate.”

Dead by Dawn – Tracklist:
01. Seeds Of Famine
02. Dead By Dawn
03. Downhill
04. Wasteland
05. Koi
06. Hate
07. Journeyman
08. She

Dead By Dawn was produced by the venerable Tony Reed, with all songs written by KITSA. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Reed at APL and HeavyHead Recording Co. in October and November of 2023. The album’s intimidating artwork was created by the gifted Jerry Padilla and Rob Lorenz.

Upcoming Live Dates:
Feb. 24 – Bremerton, WA @ The Charleston – Record Release Show (w/ Mos Generator, Chameleons)
Apr. 06 – Bremerton, WA @ Redwood Theater (w/ Pike vs The Automaton, Wizzerd)

Release show event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/3690753154473870/

Kitsa are:
Skot Davis: Lead Vocals
Chris Pound: Guitar, Vocals
Randy Fort: Drums
Jeremy Deede: Bass

Kitsa on Facebook

Kitsa on Instagram

Kitsa on Bandcamp

This was a pretty special run for Mos Generator, from when they signed to Listenable Records after coming back in 2012 with Nomads (review here) on Ripple Music through when they issued Shadowlands (review here) in 2018. Led as ever by founding guitarist, vocalist, sometimes-keyboardist, producer, etc. Tony Reed (also Big Scenic Nowhere and a veritable slew of others), the band had revamped its lineup and those were years of heavy touring and momentum on their side from one to the next, through 2014’s Electric Mountain Majesty (review here) and 2016’s Abyssinia (review here), the latter of which introduced bassist Sean Booth and drummer Jono Garrett.

But Mos Generator, and by extension Reed (and actually I think it’s the other way around), are always busy. In 2022, they released Time//Wounds (review here) and quickly set about tweaking its mix and master, the darker and more progressive feel providing ample sandbox space for it, and if you don’t follow their Bandcamp or socials or however it is you follow, it’s worth doing so for the off-album tracks, live releases, demos and other odds and ends that always show up in Reed‘s ongoing prolific mania. If you’d keep up with that, you’ll find three embeds below from their site. I’m not sure if the new Listenable pressings are of the 2022 remasters from the band’s Bandcamp or what, but chances are you’re reading this on a phone, so I don’t think we’re exactly splitting hairs on audio intricacies sitting in the exact mathematically calculated space between two giant studio monitor speakers either. Enjoy some songs.

Alright, I’m falling asleep as I type (it’s early), so it must be time for the PR wire:

Hello and Happy New Year. This year starts out with an exciting announcement.

Our studio albums recorded for Listenable Records (France) between 2014 and 2018 are now back in print. All three have been newly remastered and sound stellar. Along with the new masters, there have been minor changes to the artwork and original audio. We are so stoked that these are available again. They are some of the most important albums in our evolution. We hope you enjoy them as well.
They are all available on vinyl in the corresponding digital link here on bandcamp.

1. Electric Mountain Majesty (2014)
– Transparent yellow vinyl
– Remastered by Reed 2023. The audio on this is vastly improved by the new remaster.

2. Abyssinia (2016)
– Milky clear vinyl
– Remastered by Reed 2023
– Updated artwork with lyric insert (the original pressing had no lyric sheet)
– Original intro to ‘Red Canyons’ restored on this master

3. Shadowlands (2018)
– Transparent purple vinyl
– Remastered by Reed 2023
– 2020 mix of ‘Drowning in Your Loving Cup’ included on this master

European fans can shop here for better shipping rate
shop-listenable.net/en/search?controller=search&s=mos+generator

Cheers,
Tony/MG

Mos Generator:
Tony Reed: guitar/vocals/mellotron
Jono Garrett: drums
Sean Booth: bass

http://www.facebook.com/MosGenerator
https://www.instagram.com/mos_generator
http://www.mosgenerator.bandcamp.com
https://heavyheadsuperstore.storenvy.com/

Mos Generator, Electric Mountain Majesty (2014)

Mos Generator, Abyssinia (2016)

Mos Generator, Shadowlands (2018)

Mos Generator releasing a thing can be news even if it’s not really a huge surprise. Led by the e’er prolific Tony Reed — also of Big Scenic Nowhere, Hot Spring Water, Constance Tomb, ex-Stone Axe, on and on — the Port Orchard, Washington, heavy rockers have posted 2022 remasters on their Bandcamp for  2018’s Shadowlands (review here), 2016’s Abyssinia (review here) and 2014’s Electric Mountain Majesty (review here), representing the most productive stretch in terms of full-length records in the band’s career, though along with studio LPs there’s always EPs, singles, and other odds and ends the band have going.

To wit, Heavy Sevens and Spaced Oddities is a compilation of off-album tracks from various releases over a 20-year span. That and a reissue of their latest album, 2022’s Time//Wounds, will be out through Glory or Death Records, deepening an association that’s been in place for several years, as Mos Generator has taken part in tribute releases for the label before — why I don’t write about those whole-album or best-of-whoever tributes more: it just got to be too much, there’s like a zillion of them, and as cool and novel as those are, with the hours in the day that I have, it seems more suitable to me to write about actually-new music — and Reed‘s Hot Spring Water project put out their 2022 album, In Session, via Glory or Death as well.

Release dates? I don’t know. They put up test pressings over the weekend, signed and so on, so I’d imagine there will be more word soon. In any case, one to keep an eye out for:

Greetings all, just letting you know that we have a few things coming out at the end of summer through Glory or Death Records.

First is ‘HEAVY SEVENS & SPACED ODDITIES’. This is a single LP collection of the original songs from our 7″ singles and also a few audio oddities from 2001-2021. Second is the Glory or Death version of our last album ‘Time//Wounds’. This version has different art layout and mastering and will be available in some different variants. Unlike the Music Abuse version which was only available in black vinyl. We will have some standard editions available on our bandcamp but if you would like to pre-order or find all the limited versions please go to:
gloryordeathrecords.bandcamp.com
www.gloryordeathrecords.com/

Signed test pressing go live Sunday July 2nd @ 12pm CST

Here is the tracklisting for the Heavy Sevens album. Music Abuse will be releasing it on Cd with extra tracks.

– Gus’s Boogie
– You Bring the Wine, I’ll Bring the Weather
– Step up (7″ Version)
– Godhand Iommi
– Downer Rock ’89
– Wicked Willow (rsd 7″ Version)
– Wroomb
– Tracks (tall Bodies)*
– Serpent’s Glance
– There’s No Return from Nowhere (video Version)
– Gamma/hydra (7″ Version)
– Nowarning (flexi Mix)

Mos Generator:
Tony Reed: guitar/vocals/mellotron
Jono Garrett: drums
Sean Booth: bass

http://www.facebook.com/MosGenerator
https://www.instagram.com/mos_generator
http://www.mosgenerator.bandcamp.com
https://heavyheadsuperstore.storenvy.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Gloryordeathrecords/
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https://gloryordeathrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.gloryordeathrecords.com/shop/

Mos Generator, Time//Wounds (2022)

Released in the waning hours of 2022, Time//Wounds (review here) feels like an especially bold album for Mos Generator in terms of style. Yeah, the Port Orchard heavy rockers led by prolific madman guitarist/vocalist/producer Tony Reed have long since delved into progressive sounds, but never with such a surety of purpose as they do on their latest work. It’s not about “going prog” or something like that, like it’s 1974 and all of a sudden a what had been blues band sounds like Yes or some such, but about incorporating a new range of scope to Mos Generator‘s well established penchant for songcraft and melody. Not the kind of record a band would make out of the gate, rather, it is the beneficiary of the years and decades of experience of Reed in and out of the band as well as the chemistry he shares with bassist Sean Booth and drummer Jono Garrett.

They’ve settled down touring for the last several years, even since such a thing became possible again, and fair enough for how hard they went from around 2014-2018, but as they take more chances on this record, it’s satisfying in a way to see them meet with success on the listener end. That would seem to be what’s underlying this announcement of a second pressing of Time//Wounds since, inevitably, the reason they’re making more records is because they sold through the first pressing and think people will continue to buy. No doubt that’s the case, and bonus for fixing typos in the lyric sheet. As someone who regularly corrects spelling and grammatical errors from, say, a decade ago, on this site, I find it easy to appreciate that kind of thing, frustrating as it is that there’s no shortage of them wanting correction.

In any case, good for Mos Gen, and though it’s only been about three months since the record came out, you know Reed will have something new on tap for this year as well, whatever form that might take.

Here’s the band’s update:

Hello friends. For those of you who didn’t get a copy of Time//Wounds on vinyl before it sold out or you just like to collect different versions of the same record…the second pressing of Time//Wounds arrived at my door yesterday and I’ve put it up in the store. 200 copies on black vinyl.

It has the same audio as the 1st pressing but there are many changes to the artwork layout of the second edition (including the fixing of MANY typos on the lyric sheet). We’ve been getting some amazing feedback on this album and we truly appreciate the support of people buying it and letting us (and the social media public) know how they feel about it.

Mos Generator:
Tony Reed: guitar/vocals/mellotron
Jono Garrett: drums
Sean Booth: bass

http://www.facebook.com/MosGenerator
https://www.instagram.com/mos_generator
http://www.mosgenerator.bandcamp.com
https://heavyheadsuperstore.storenvy.com/

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https://www.instagram.com/palewizard/
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https://palewizardrecords.bandcamp.com/

Mos Generator, Time//Wounds (2022)

Time//Wounds is the fifth album since Port Orchard, Washington’s Mos Generator returned from the ether of hiatus with 2012’s Nomads (review here). The second era of the band is now longer than the first, as and as six tracks of Time//Wounds — issued through Music Abuse and Pale Wizard Records following a trilogy on Listenable Records in 2014’s Electric Mountain Majesty (review here), 2016’s Abyssinia (review here) and 2018’s Shadowlands (review here) — time matters.

Accompanying this return to activity in terms of full studio LPs has been a glutton’s delight of short releases, splits, self-bootlegs, unearthed demos, one offs, a solo album from founding guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist/producer Tony Reed, as well as several other Reed-inclusive side-projects, including Big Scenic Nowhere, Constance Tomb, Hot Spring Water, in-depth work with Australia’s Seedy Jeezus as producer and player, and more besides. As stretches of time go, it’s been a good one to be a Mos Generator fan.

Since Electric Mountain Majesty and particularly across recent EPs like 2019’s Spontaneous Combustions (review here), 2016’s The Firmament, and even the demos that showed up on their 2020 split with Di’Aul (review here), the band have moved in multifaceted fashion toward a more progressive approach from their foundation in more straightforward classic heavy rock. True, they’ve never lacked ambition, and they’ve done strongly thematic work before such as the concept album The Late Great Planet Earth in 2005, but particularly as Reed has grown more comfortable with various synth instrumentation and worked to flesh out his own vocal arrangements, the direction the band — completed by Sean Booth on bass and Jono Garrett, whose contributions aren’t to be minimized in how these recordings sound; I don’t know their dynamic in the studio, but it’s safe to say nothing is ending up on a Mos Generator record that Reed didn’t approve even if for diplomacy — but 20 years on from their self-titled debut (reissue review here), Time//Wounds seems to complete a turn toward a vision of performance-rooted progressive heavy rock that is both classic in substance and very much Mos Generator‘s and Reed‘s own.

Influenced by a deeper knowledge of original-era heavy and prog than one could ever aspire to amass, as well as his own roots as a player in more punkish fare — looking at you, “Getting Good at Revenge,” which reminds of bit of Mos Generator doing Fu Manchu at their own most punk — and indeed the work Reed has done as a songwriter to bring the band to this point, the 43 minutes of Time//Wounds carry something of an exploratory feel for the finished versions being created using what were the demo tracks for the songs.

This process has been a more than a year long front to back, and accompanying the rawer underpinnings is, instrumentally and vocally, the most complex material Mos Generator have released. To wit, the Opethian bridge(s) of partially-acoustic second cut “(Don’t) Wait Until Tomorrow” or the 14-minute finale “Until We Meet Again (Parts I-IV),” which indeed plays out structurally in movements flowing one into the next. That these moves take place alongside the prog-funky keyboard in “Burn Away the Years,” which is almost garage rock in its strum, is emblematic of the stylistic sprawl brought to bear under the heading of Time//Wounds. King Crimson, Motorpsycho, MC5, Beatles and who else? It doesn’t even matter since it all comes out as Mos Generator anyhow.

That, as it happens, is a major unifying factor throughout the songs. Another is an abiding sense of melancholy — certainly present in the cover photo by singer-songwriter Conny Ochs as well — that’s present from the less-than-thrilled-sounding opening verse of “Aja-Minor” (premiered here), “…Don’t lose your time/You ain’t got none…,” onward. Immediately, the engagement with time is at the forefront, and by the time the hook comes around with layers of Reed almost taunting himself, “Time wounds/What you got what you got in your head/N-n-nothing,” the inevitable connection between temporality and mortality is writ large without being said at all. If this is Mos Generator confronting death, they do so in almost manic but inherently still plotted fashion.

Time is almost everywhere throughout — “(Don’t) Wait Until Tomorrow,” “Burn Away the Years,” the also-linear-structured just-under-eight-minute penultimate track “Only Yesterday,” which likely starts the side B stretch-out that continues in “Until We Meet Again (Parts I-IV)” and feels born of a similar process. Shadowlands was likewise not without its darker streak, and I suppose one might say the same of the preceding records in this era of the band too, to some degree or other, but the contrast born with Time//Wounds is striking. Some of these melodies, tones and grooves are bright and near-soaring, and they carry with them an existential weight that goes even beyond the more intense shove of “Getting Good at Revenge.”

It’s not necessarily a pall this casts over Time//Wounds, but it’s a shadow in the tapestry. And as Mos Generator adventure into new ideas in terms of their sound as a unit and in Reed‘s songwriting, the seemingly lighthearted strum of “Burn Away the Years” — “Never give in and never look back at the smoke” — and the churning layers of synthesizer and guitar that ensue want nothing for clarity of purpose. It is Mos Generator growing older, weirder, but maintaining the surefootedness of craft that has always been a an essential component of the band’s work. Time wounds and time heals in “Aja-Minor,” and the lyrics of “Burn Away the Years” seem reluctantly reconciled to being “another birthday song,” but even if the album holds a scope that can feel disjointed at first glance, there’s always a course charted beneath the surface, and on the most fundamental level, the songs are too thoughtful and intricately made to be anything other than progressive rock.

I expect some listeners won’t know what to make of it — even longtime followers might be surprised — but those who find themselves able to invest properly in the mission and the message here, a record that seems to describe the urgency of its own making even before the first track is done while also stretching out in ways the band never has before, will find it nothing but a triumph. That won’t be everybody, but it will definitely be some, and with what Reed, Booth and Garrett conjure in these tracks, I feel like Mos Generator have never been less predictable for what might come next. Especially given their history, let alone the fleeting nature of all things, that in itself seems worthy of appreciating. This is the output of a master of the form refusing to not challenge himself. In other words, the way art moves forward.

Mos Generator, “Aja-Minor”

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